FE 5: Drinking Is Great 7" compilation

Classic Portland compilation and the 5th release on Fatal Erection from 1985. One song each from PI, Lockjaw, E-13 and Final Warning. "Laughing Boy" is one of my all time favorite PI tracks, and can be found tacked onto the various reissues of Record Collectors Are Pretentious Assholes. The other three bands all have great records of their own — two 7"s from Lockjaw (skinhead hc a-la Agnostic Front, collected on CD along with an unreleased LP), two 7"s from E-13 (snotty hc) and one 7" from Final Warning (wayyy underrated Discharge style hc) — search them out, you won't be disappointed.

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TEST PRESS - ??? copies

Two variations of the test press exist — some with silver labels and some with yellow labels — but the FE overlords say they were pressed at the same time and there are equal amounts of both. My yellow label copy came with the first press tan sleeve, but other copies I have seen were sleeveless.

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FIRST PRESS - 1000 black vinyl

Tan foldover sleeve printed on card stock, with legal size (8,5"x14") glossy insert. No known variations. Classic cover art by Buns, who did a lot of PI's early artwork.

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SECOND PRESS - 500 yellow vinyl

Thin white paper folded sleeve has "goes GolD 1 of 500" added under the title, in what appears to be Pig's handwriting. Insert is identical to the first press.

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RR-42568: Accused/Rejectors split 12"

OK, so it's not a Poison Idea record, but I thought it would be cool to include this here since it was originally slated to be Fatal Erection #1. Malcolm still ended up putting it out, but I'm not sure why there's no label name on the record. This is the first release for the Accused, before they had Blaine Cook singing in the band. No metal influences yet, just pretty straightforward meat 'n potatoes '83 hardcore. I actually prefer the Rejectors side, which is not much different to the Accused, but packs more of a punch. Check out their Thoughts Of War 7" if you haven't already.

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TEST PRESS - unknown amount

Plain white labels and generic sleeve. I got this out of the collection of Ruth Schwartz of Maximumrocknroll/Mordam fame when she sold everything off a few years back. Included with the record was a hand written letter/promo sheet from Malcolm, pictured below (side note: when was the last time an LP was $3.50 wholesale??). Based on the letter, there have to be at least 3 copies of this record, since he mentions two being sent to Ruth and I can safely assume he kept at least one for his personal stash.

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FIRST PRESS - 1000 black vinyl

Nothing too exciting to report here. There's no info on the jacket, though there's a 2-sided insert with one side for each band. Sleeve opens at the top for some reason.

TR-001/AL-004: Pick Your King 7"

Not much to say about this record other than it's my favorite hardcore record ever, and should be yours too. Thirteen tracks of unbridled HATE that has been copied a million times over but never equaled.

Recently I had the opportunity to chat with Malcolm of Fatal Erection, and he was able to answer some lingering questions I had about this record. Anyways...

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FIRST VERSION - FATAL ERECTION RECORDS

TEST PRESS - 6 copies
Matrix number TR-001. 

Update 5/2/2012: One copy, formerly belonging to Pig Champion, has surfaced including a crude homemade picture sleeve. The original paste-up to the sleeve currently resides with another test press in the Fatal Erection archives. The copy pictured below the sleeve was sold on ebay in 2009 by Minor Threat drummer Jeff Nelson, and included correspondence from Fatal Erection head honcho Malcolm Conover indicating that only 6 test pressings were made. The copy below that was sold on ebay in 1999 and is inscribed "MY OWN PRIVATE TEST PRESSING PRESENTED TO ME BY TOM ROBERTS 2/17/83" by Jerry A. Drummer Dean Johnson's copy was allegedly traded away for a case of beer in the 80's... anyone know where that copy or Glen Estes' copy are residing these days?
 

Jeff Nelson ebay copy —



Jerry A. ebay copy —


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"FIRST" PRESS - 1000 clear vinyl
These were technically pressed second after the black vinyl copies due to a mix up at the pressing plant, but they were released to the public first. Sleeve is a hand-made glued pocket, offset printed with much more detail in the photos than subsequent versions. Includes a lyric insert as well as a small piece of paper with contact info that typically has the address corrected in pen. Also many copies come with a sticker. I've also seen some random copies with the letters colored in, and copies with various Pig and Jerry signatures.



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"SECOND" PRESS - 700 copies on black vinyl
These were actually pressed before the clear copies, but were released after the clear copies were sold out. Blue paper cover is offset printed but does not have as much clarity/detail as the original pressing, and has the lyrics printed inside the sleeve instead of a separate insert.



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THIRD PRESS - 1000 blue vinyl
According to Malcolm FE, these were pressed by Pig on his own around 1985. Sleeve print job is similar to black vinyl press, but utilizes off-white paper and the printing is even more washed out than the blue paper version. They must have lost the original label art, as the label text is slightly different to the clear and black copies. The vinyl is pressed from the same stampers but has different tool marks than the previous versions (note the ring impression around the outside edge of the clear and black label areas, whereas the blue copies have a much smaller pressing mark closer to the center hole.)



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SECOND VERSION - AMERICAN LEATHER RECORDS

TEST PRESS - ??? copies
No known sleeve. Matrix number AL-004.
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FOURTH/FIFTH PRESS - 1000 copies each, black vinyl
Sleeve is offset printed and is better quality than the sleeves on the black and blue vinyl Fatal Erection pressings. Inside of sleeve indicates 4th or 5th press — 4th press from 1990 and 5th press from 1991. Vinyl is identical.